AN ABERDOUR man has asked for no presents for his birthday, wanting donations to fund a RNIB talking book instead.

Matthew Nicholson just celebrated his birthday but instead of getting gifts, he wanted to raise the £1,500 needed to fund a Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) talking book.

So far he has raised £2,300 and has been “overwhelmed” by the generosity of his friends and family.

Matthew told the Press: “Someone got me involved in the RNIB so I decided to do this to say thank you to them.”

He launched his JustGiving page on Sunday, July 24, and has raised more than £1,000 through online donations.

Thinking that he would need to do a few fundraising events to boost donations, Matthew also held a raffle with prizes given to him from the Tesco store in Dalgety Bay, Asda and his friends.

Judith, his mum, said: “For many years, Matthew has benefitted from listening to RNIB talking books. He decided he would like to raise awareness of the RNIB talking book library and add a new book to their collection. To sponsor a book, he would need to raise £1,500.

“He came up with the idea of a birthday fundraiser. He invited family and friends to have tea, cake and celebrate with him, in his garden in Aberdour, any donations in lieu of presents would be in aid of sponsoring a RNIB talking book.

“He also ran a raffle with prizes kindly donated by friends, Asda and Tesco Dalgety Bay.

“He was overwhelmed by the generosity of family and friends and on the day raised over £1,300. He also set up a JustGiving page and it is currently over £1,000. His total at present stands at over £2,300.

“He is delighted to have surpassed his target, raising enough to sponsor a book and, at the same time, raise awareness of the service.”

To help Matthew raise as much money as possible to a service that is greatly important to him, visit his JustGiving page, https://www.justgiving.com/page/matthews-talkingbook